Happy New Year, Schade and KLP boost, Saturdays Football, PL in USA

Happy New Year, NYC Bees! Our 2026 gets started quickly, so why waste time with a long intro: Here's your news and notes to get you up to speed on the latest here!

Another six-game month at The Red Lion
We're set to watch every January game at The Red Lion, 151 Bleecker St., with five league matches, and a third-round FA Cup game on Saturday, Jan. 10, at Sheffield Wednesday. The month starts up with a rematch against former manager Thomas Frank and Tottenham Hotspur on New Year's Day (Thursday, Jan. 1). Look forward to seeing all of you after this holiday season! See the graphic for our full meet-up schedule.

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Schade, KLP provide scoring boost

With a couple absences due to the Africa Cup of Nations (particularly Dango Ouattara), we knew we needed some players to step up in December. In the past two games, Kevin Schade and Keane Lewis-Potter have been up to the task! Schade recorded his second Premier League hat trick in two seasons to lead the Bees to a 4-1 victory over Bournemouth on Dec. 27. Schade joins Man City's Erling Haaland and Bournemouth's Justin Kluivert as the only players to record multiple hat tricks since the start of the 2024-25 season.

Lewis-Potter notched a brace during Brentford's 2-0 victory at Wolves on Dec. 20. It was hands-down KLP's best game for us, and for his efforts, Lewis-Potter was named to the Premier League Team of the Week by Alan Shearer. BBC Sport and other media outlets also gave Lewis-Potter some deserved recognition.

NYC Bees at Saturdays Football in Soho
Die-hard football fans in the area probably are familiar with the Saturdays Football store located in Soho, Manhattan. The NYC Bees dropped in for a Premier League event on Dec. 18 to don a little Brentford signage! There was a photo station to showcase the club's latest jersey, plus some trivia and foosball competitions. It might take some time before we start seeing a plethora of Brentford vintage jerseys available at Saturdays Football, but it was definitely a nice opportunity to connect with this establishment, which is sure to gain even more popularity with the FIFA World Cup coming here in 2026!

NYC Bees on PL in USA's 'Have a Guinness with' video
For a whopping ninth occasion, our shoot with Premier League in USA (#PLinUSA) led to another video appearance from our NYC Bees contingent! This time, myself and Abhi Goyal were asked: Which player would we have a Guinness with? Ireland and Brentford captain Nathan Collins felt like the proper answer! This Dec. 22 piece was shared on PL in USA's Instagram channel, which has more than 1.3 million followers. Video footage was captured during the 2024-25 PL season outside The Red Lion in Greenwich Village.

Brentford News & Notes
AFCON: Ouattara records assist; Onyeka's Nigeria advances: At the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, Dango Ouattara provided a last-minute assist during Burkina Faso's come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Equatorial Guinea on Dec. 24. Burkina Faso has not reached the knockout round just yet and could use a positive result against Sudan on Dec. 31 to advance out of Group E. Frank Onyeka and Nigeria have already clinched a knockout round spot out of Group C, with wins against Tanzania and Tunisia.

Brentford Women atop LSE heading into 2026: In the midst of their first season in England's fifth tier, the Brentford Women enjoy a first-place position in the London and South East Premier Division! The Bees have posted 28 points in 12 games, though they do have some games in hand with the likes of Saltdean United and Dartford close behind. Following a mixed-bag November, Brentford responded well in December with an impressive 6-0 win against Millwall that featured three Ashley Cheatley goals. Also noteworthy, Brentford's Paula Holguin earned LSE Premier Player of the Month for November, with three goals and an assist during that stretch.

Pair of Shades of Blue appearances: To close out December, I joined the Shades of Blue Network for a couple shows in a weeklong stretch. The big finale was their weekly LIT Stream (Dec. 18), where we got into a number of topics beyond our respective clubs (Brentford and Manchester City), highlighted at the start by some World Cup-hosting opinions. Was a fun show! A couple days earlier, we previewed the quarterfinal Carabao Cup matchup between the Bees and City. We'll chat again on the 2026 side!

Quick hits: The 2026 FIFA World Cup draw took place in early December, and we now know the matches that will be taking place across the Hudson River in East Rutherford, N.J. Group-stage matches include Brazil-Morocco (June 13), France-Senegal (June 16), Norway-Senegal (June 22), Ecuador-Germany (June 25) and Panama-England (June 27). New Jersey will also be the host site of a Round of 32 match, Round of 16 match, and the much anticipated final on July 19. ... The semifinals of the 2026 FIFA Women's Champions Cup are taking place at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium on Jan. 28. If you happen to be in West London for this stretch, our Harrison, N.J. neighbor Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League is playing in this competition! (for tickets and more info.) ... To cap this off, definitely check out Brentford manager Martin "Mad Dog" Allen's little Christmas story from his Bees tenure!

Suggestions, Comments, Feedback
If you ever have any thoughts, feel free to email (brentfordnyc@gmail.com) or chat with me anytime! #COYB!

Charlie